Song · Steve Winwood
“While You See a Chance” by Steve Winwood
From the album Arc of a Diver (1980)
“While You See a Chance” by Steve Winwood appears on 8 radio countdowns from 8 stations between 1982 and 2025. It was first released in 1980 on the album Arc of a Diver. Its best result is #377 on the WZLX Memorial 500 (1997).
"While You See a Chance" was the lead single from Arc of a Diver, Steve Winwood's second studio album, and Island put it out in Britain in December 1980, with "Vacant Chair", off his self-titled 1977 debut, on the B-side. Winwood wrote it with the American lyricist Will Jennings, and he kept the rest in-house: he produced it, engineered it and mixed it himself, with John Clarke assisting.
America is where it caught fire. Radio & Records had it as the fourth most-added song on US radio in the week of February 7, 1981; it climbed to number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 that April and did even better in Canada, reaching number 3. At home it stalled at 45, though it did become Island's first cassette single.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
Classic Rock
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | 438 | 95.5 KLOS | KLOS Memorial Day 500 (1982) | 499 |
| 1991 | 482 | WNEW-FM | WNEW Firecracker 500 (1991) | 500 |
| 1997 | 976 | 102.3 WBAB | WBAB Top 1,023 Rock and Roll Songs of All Time (1997) | 1023 |
| 1997 | 377 | 100.7 WZLX | WZLX Memorial 500 (1997) | 499 |
| 2014 | 919 | Big 100 | BIG 1000 New Year's Countdown (2014) | 1000 |
| 2022 | 425 | 99.1 PLR | 99.1 PLR Big 500 (2022) | 500 |
| 2023 | 637 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 850 Songs of the 1980s | 850 |
| 2025 | 438 | WMGK | WMGK Philly 500 (2025) | 500 |
Also listed as: While You See A Chance.
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